Love and Marriage and New York City: Shevrado Oliver’s New Role

NEW YORK – Jamaican born Shevrado Oliver, the award winning film and television actor best known for his roles in the television series From Yard  and the upcoming suspense feature Behind Closed Doors, will join Denise Hunt (How Stella Got Her Groove Back), James Duke Walker and Gabrielle C. Archer in the cast of the Silver Anniversary Performance of David Heron’s romantic comedy drama Love and Marriage and New York City.

Oliver won a 2024 Accolade Global Film Recognition Award for his role in Behind Closed Doors. He will make his New York stage acting debut in this production.

Playwright and producer Heron is reviving the show for its 25th Anniversary. There will be a one-night-only performance at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC) in Jamaica, Queens on Sunday, June 22.

Caribbean American Heritage Month

The play will be shown as a staged reading. It will be a special cultural event. This event celebrates New York City’s Caribbean American Heritage Month. The festivities take place across the city every June.

A complimentary Caribbean Cuisine Reception from 5:30pm will precede the performance at 7pm.

Set in Manhattan in the late 1990s, Love and Marriage and New York City tells the story of two Jamaican couples. They marry just for green cards. However, they soon find out that love can change everything. Once Cupid’s arrow strikes, no marriage is just about business.

Oliver will play the role of Damian Lewis, a swaggering, wise cracking photographer who marries his romantically inclined girlfriend, fashion model Natalie Taylor (Gabrielle C. Archer) to help her get her green card. Denise Hunt portrays Natalie’s best friend, Jessica Rogers, a fiercely ambitious Wall Street stockbroker who is offered a major incentive by Damian to marry his unemployed but warm hearted cousin Theophilus Wilson (James Duke Walker), a banker who arrives in the big city from rural Jamaica needing a fresh start -and a green card of his own.

When the two couples move in to Jessica’s newly purchased high rise apartment in Manhattan, their lives and relationships take dramatic and comedic turns  as they uncertainly navigate their green card unions towards the elusive American dream they all desire.

Love and Marriage and New York City Cast

Shevrado Oliver

Shevrado Oliver is already regarded as one of Jamaica’s fastest rising actors with a growing resume that spans both stage and screen. In addition to playing leading roles in both From Yard  and the upcoming Behind Closed Doors, he has also appeared in the popular Jamaican television series Thicker Than Water.

His Jamaican theatre credits include Just Like Girls, Marriage Bizniz and Jamaica Sweet.

Denise Hunt

Jamaican born Denise Hunt is an actress, model and television host who was last seen on the New York stage a year ago as Alice McBee- a character based on Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth- in the American premiere production of Alwin Bully’s McBee, Heron’s 2024 Caribbean American Heritage Month presentation. She also previously played the role of Natalie in a United Kingdom touring production of Love and Marriage and New York City.

She is best known for appearing opposite Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs in How Stella Got Her Groove Back and was also the host of two of Television Jamaica’s most popular entertainment  programmes- Rising Stars and ER- The Entertainment Report  for several years before emigrating to the United States.

James Duke Walker

Like Hunt, James Duke Walker once again returns to the New York stage following his performance as Vere Duncan Jr, the son of a murdered Caribbean Prime Minister, in last year’s production of McBee. Discovered while working as a unionized construction worker in New York, Walker immediately landed a major role in the Manhattan Repertory Theatre production Bro.

He has since performed at The Apollo Theatre and at Manhattan Theatre Club’s City Centre Stage in staged reading productions of Heron’s courtroom drama Against His Will, produced by Malik Yoba.

His television appearances include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Diabolical. He won Italy’s Oniros Film Festival Award for Best Acting Debut for his first film, Roadside Assistance.

Gabrielle C. Archer

Gabrielle C. Archer studied acting at the Stella Adler Studio. She has appeared in staged reading performances of Heron’s Against His Will as well as in other theatrical productions including Freedom Flight at Mad River Theatre Works, The Store at The Castillo Theatre, Black Women and the Ballot at The National Black Theatre and Untamed- Hair Body Attitude at The Black Spectrum Theatre.

Her screen credits include Beguiled, God’s First Name and Black Two Sugars.

Heron thinks that the play in 2025 will bring back strong feelings of nostalgia. It will also raise concerns about the current immigration debate in the nation.

“At a time when immigration policy has emerged as the foremost issue in our national consciousness, and when marriage to an American citizen still remains the easiest path to attaining permanent legal status, the play seems even more relevant now than 25 years ago,” he says.

“I’m interested in seeing how the audience reacts, and hearing what they have to say afterwards- both those who have seen it before as well as those experiencing it for the first time. I feel it will be an evening to remember for sure.”

“Love and Marriage and New York City is Heron’s biggest international success so far. It premiered in Kingston, Jamaica in 1999. Since then, it has been performed Off Broadway at The Billie Holiday Theatre in Brooklyn. It has also been shown in many US cities, across the UK, and in Toronto, Canada.”

Love and Marriage and New York City received eight nominations for the International Theatre Institute (Jamaica) Actor Boy Award. This award is similar to Broadway’s Tony Award. Heron also earned the New York City Council Proclamation and Award for Excellence. He received this honor at New York’s City Hall in 2006.

Tickets

Tickets for the Silver Anniversary Performance of Love and Marriage in New York City are now on sale. A limited number of tickets are available at a discount for early buyers until Sunday, May 11.

College and high school students who are 16 and older can attend the production for free. This offer also includes theatre interns from the New York Tri-State area. This is possible because of tickets donated by event patrons through the Sure Thing Productions Free Student Ticket Initiative.